by Morinville News Staff
Phoenix Taekwon-do, who opened classes at the Morinville Community Cultural Centre last fall, sent a number of athletes representing their St. Albert and Morinville locations to the ITF World Championships in Rimini, Italy June 25 to 28. The trip resulted in the local athletes returning to Canada with major hardware.
The Phoenix team included athletes from the ages of 11 to 60 who competed in patterns and sparring. The four-day tournament hosted more than 300 elite black belts from 15 different countries, including Canada, Japan,
Philippines, USA and Ireland.
“The competition was incredibly tough,” said head coach Theresa Stanley, a 5th-degree black belt, adding she and Phoenix Taekwon-do chief instructor, Master Stanley, 8th Degree Black Belt had spent six months training the team.
The team brought home a total of 16 medals. Nigel Harrison, 2nd degree black belt from St. Albert brought home the heaviest hardware with a gold medal in Men’s Veteran (over 36) Pattern and Men’s -80KG Veteran Sparring.
Morinville instructor David Wandler placed 5th in the Men’s Senior Pattern Division and 8th in the Men’s Senior Sparring Division (-76KG), the most difficult and biggest division of the tournament.
Phoenix Taekwon-do offers classes fo rall ages in Morinville and encourages families to take classes together.
